Antiflood device for floor drains



Aug. 1, 1950 W. P. GASPAR ANTIFLOOD DEVICE FOR FLOOR DRAINS Filed March 26, 1949 flllll WILLIAM P. GASPAR Zhwentor drain into said anti-flooddevice without inun- Patented Aug. 1, i950 s :PATENT OFFICE William P. Gaspar, Flint, Mich., assignor to Basement Sentinel Company, F int, Mich., a corporation of Michigan h tA jpplication March 26, 1949, Serial No; 83,663

' 3 Claims. (o1.1s2--25) This invention relates in general to an antiflood device for a floor drain and more particularly to a type thereof having anautomatic valve which permits water to back up through said said floor drain. Presently known types of valve mechanisms for automatically closing said floor drain have been found unreliable in operation and extremely difiicult to clean or service.

The only known types of automatic back-flood valves are'for below-floor installation. Accordingly, when the flood level in the sewer rises substantially above the level of *the floor, the upward hydrostatic pressure against the closed drain becomes sufiicient to loosen the drain from the surrounding floor or create leaks around said *drainby cracking the floor. Accordingly, a primary object of this invention is the provision of an anti-flood device for afloor drain which permits water to back up through the drain without inundating the floor therearound, and which can be easily and quickly installed in, or removed from, said drain.

A further object of this invention is the provision of a device, as aforesaid, which will not cause said drain to be disengaged from the surrounding floor due to upward hydrostatic pressure dur- 'ing flood conditions.

A further object of this invention is the provision of a device," as aforesaid, whichis easy to clean and service and which is positive in action and reliable in operation. l Other objects and purposes of this invention will become apparentto persons familiar with this type of equipment upon referring to the accompanying drawings and upon reading the following specification. l

In meeting those objects and purposes hereto- .45 fore mentioned, as well as others incidental theretoand associated therewith, I have provided a drain plate which rests on, and is secured to, the floor around a drain hole and has a circular threaded opening in the center thereof. Acy1in- ,50 .drical valve housing is threadedly supported, in "an axially vertical position, within said threaded opening in theJdrain plate and extends down into said drain hole. A drain port is provided in the side wall of said housing just above said drain plate and a valve is provided within said housing which closes said drain port, when water rises within said housing, before the water reaches said port. A stand pipe may be secured in a vertical position to the upper end of said housing permitting water to back up through said housing and seek its level within said stand pipe.

For illustrations of a preferred embodiment of the invention, attention is directed to the accompanying drawings in which:

"Figure 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a basement showing a floor drain equipped with my anti-flood device.

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of Figure 1, about as taken alon the line IIII, with the automatic valve in closed position.

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view of the valve housing, about as taken along the line 11-11 in Figure 1, with the valve in the open position.

I Construction The anti-flood device l0 (Figures 1 and 2), to

which this invention relates, is herein disclosed,

for illustrative purposes only, as applied to use with a drain hole II in a basement floor [2.

However, it will be recognized from the description that said anti-flood device may be used in connection with any floor drain. The drain hole ,I Lfor the purposes of illustration, is connected to a sewer I3 by means of the waste pipe M which passes through the ground l5 under the basement floor I2 in a conventional manner.

J For the purpose of convenience in description,

the terms upper or upwardly and lower or downwardly, as used in the following specification, will be understood to refer to the anti-flood device l0 and parts cooperating therewith when positioned and/ or operating in their normal manner of use. The terms inwardly and outwardly shall be understood to mean toward and away, respectively, from the geometric center of the device.

The anti-flood device l0 (Figure 2) is comprised of a substantially cylindrical valve hous- "ing H, which is supportable upon a circular substantially dish-shaped drain plate It and a hollow stand pipe l8 which is securable to said housing. The housing, drain plate and stand pipe are all preferably made from a rust resistant material such as brass. The drain plate [6, which has a circular opening I!) preferably coaxial with the circular periphery 2! thereof, advantageously slopes downwardly from said periphery toward said openin l9, thereby having the shape of a ba r 3d.

frustum of an inverted cone. The walls of the circular opening I 9 are preferably extended downe wardly to provide the cylindrical extension 22 which is internally threaded.

The drain. plate It, which is preferably set in concrete 23 surrounding the drain hole H for permanent attachment to the floor I2, is preferably disposed substantially horizontally and its outer periphery 2| is preferably slightly lower than the upper surface 24 of said basement floor.

The cylindrical valve housing l1 (Figure 3) is provided with a substantially coaxial valve chamber 25 which extends through the entire length thereof, and opens out of both axial ends thereof. The said chamber 25 is preferably, but not necessarily, provided with an enlarged portion 26 near the upper end thereof, which portion is provided with a circular drain port 21 through the side wall of the housing |1.

Ihe valve housing i1 is externally threaded immediately below the enlarged portion 26 for cooperation with the internally threaded cylindrical extension 22 of the drain plate l6. Accordingly, the drain port 21 is immediately above the upper surface of the drain plate l6 when the valve housing 11 i threadedly secured thereto, and said valve housing is, accordingly, in an axially vertical position. The lower end of the valve housing H, which extends down into the drain hOle l, is provided with an inner screen 28 which extends completely across the valve chamber 25 near the lower end thereof. The housing side wall surrounding the upper end of the valve chamber 25 is internally threaded for cooperation with the lower, externally threaded end 29 of the hollow stand pipe I8, which pipe is preferably substantially coaxial with the valve housing i1 and removable therefrom.

A valve head 3|, which may be of any convenient, conventional type, is here shown as having a circular disk 32 secured to a valve arm 33, which arm is hingedly supported upon the valve housing side wall within the chamber enlarged portion .25 directly above the drain port 21. The valve arm :is preferably so positioned that the circular disk 32 closes the drain port 21 when said disk lies substantially within a vertical plane.

The lower end of the valve arm 33 is pivo'tally engaged by one end of a hinged float support The opposite end of said float bar 34 is pivotally supported upon that side of the wall of the chamber enlarged portion '26 remote from the drain port 21. The hinge point 35 in the support bar 3 is preferably about midway between the extremities of said bar, which bar is preferably slightly longer than the distance between the said pivot points on the wall of the chamber enlarged portion 26 and the lower end of the valve arm 33.

The float bar 34 is preferably assembled so that as the ends thereof are moved toward or away from each other, the hinge point 35 will move upwardly and downwardly, respectively, substantially below the level of the said ends of the bar. Accordingly, upward movement "of the hinge point 35 will cause the support bar '34 to close the valve head 3| over the drain port .21 before the said support bar 34 can be straightened out and, therefore, before the hinge point #35 can be raised above the level of theen'ds of said bar.

A buoyant float 36 of any convenient, conventional type is secured to, and suspended from, the float support bar 34 at the hinge point 35 thereof 4 within the lower end of the valve chamber 2!. Normally, the weight of the float 36 tends to pull the hinge point downwardly, thereby holding the valve head 3| in the open position, as shown in Figure 3.

An outer screen 31, supportable upon the plate periphery 2|, may be provided around the valve housing I! to prevent undesirable material from entering the drain port 21.

Operation The circular drain plate It, which is preferably substantially as hereinabove described, may be permanently installed in the floor, such as a basement floor 12 (Figure 2), by means such as concrete 23 so that a substantially circular drain .hole H is provided between the cylindrical extension 22 of said drain plate l6 and the upper edge of the waste pipe I l. The drain plate I8 is preferably substantially horizontal and the cylindrical extension :22 is preferably lower than the plate outer periphery 2| so that said drain plate slopes downwardly from said periphery 2| toward the circular opening IS.

The cylindrical valve housing |-1,-complete with the valve mechanism inside thereof, the inside screen 28, and the outside screen 31, may be inserted into the circular opening |3 and threadedly engaged by the internal threads of said cylindrical extension 22, thereby being disposed in a vertical position The drain port 22 will, therefore, be immediately above the upper surface of the drain .plate "Hi, and any water or other fluids flowing into the drain plate is may pass through the drain port .21, the valve chamber 25, the 'drain hole H, and out the waste pipe l4. Under these circumstances, the valve head 3| will be in the open position as shown in Figure 3.

, The stand pipe lower threaded end 29 is thread:-

ed-ly-secured to the upper end of the valve housing 1 and is preferably of such length that it will permit water backing up through the waste pipe l4 and drain hole H to seek its level therein under the most extreme conditions which .may be anticipated.

If and when the sewer I3 should in any way cause the liquid therewithin to back up the waste pipe l4 and through the drain hole H, the antiflood device 10 .in the position hereinabove described, will positively prevent the inundation of the basement floor |2'. As the water backs up through the waste pipe 14 and through the chamber 25, it raises the float 36 and thereby urges the pivoted ends of the float support-bar 34 away from each other. .Since the one end of the float barsd is secured to the side of the valve chamber '25, the opposite end of said float bar, which is pivotally connected to the "valve head 31,, tends to close said valve head over the drain port 21 the float 35 rises: The drain port 21 will be completely and satisfactorily closed by the valve head 3| well before the water rising through the valve housing H can reach the level of the said valve head 3|. Thus, the water will bypass the drain port 21 as it rises through the valve housing and continues to seek its level :up through the stand pipe 1|8. The buoyancy of the-float 35 will continue to keep the valve "head 3| closed over the drain port 21 until the level of the water recedes below the level of the float :36 :at which time the valve head 3| williagain be pivoted away from closed position over the drain port 21.

Inasmuch as the cylindrical valve housings! and the parts associated therewith may be: re-

moved from the drain plate It very simply and very quickly, it takes very little effort to keep said parts clean and ready for immediate and positive operation.

At times when back flooding through the waste pipe is very unlikely, the valve housing IT and associated parts may be removed from the drain plate it entirely, or, if desired, the stand pipe l8 may be removed from the valve housing I! and replaced by a solid plug, not shown. If the valve housing I! is completely removed from the drain plate 16, a circular drain cover of any convenient type, not shown, may be placed over the drain plate it. In such a case, the antifiood device In could be kept in a handy place for immediate installation in the drain plate [6 when needed.

Although the above mentioned drawings and description apply to one particular, preferred embodiment of the invention, it is not my intention, implied or otherwise, to eliminate other variations or modifications which do not depart from the scope of the invention unless specifically stated to the contrary in the hereinafter appended claims.

I claim:

1. In an anti-flood device for a floor drain, the combination comprising: a circular, dishshaped drain plate, having a coaxial, circular opening whose walls are threaded and substantially lower than the periphery of said plate; a cylindrical valve housing having an externally threaded portion intermediate its axial ends for cooperation with the threaded Walls of said circular opening, said housing being axially vertin1 cally disposed within said opening and having a coaxial cylindrical chamber extending therethrough, the Walls of said chamber being internally threaded near the upper end thereof; a stand pipe externally threaded near one end for cooperation with the internally threaded upper end of said housing and a screen across said chamber adjacent to the lower end thereof; a screen surrounding that portion of said housing extending above said drain plateand resting upon the outer edge of said plate; a circular drain port through the side wall of said chamber above said threaded portion; a valve head pivotally supported at its upper edge within said chamber upon said side wall above said drain port for closing same; a bar within said chamber having a hinge point intermediate its ends, one end of said bar being pivotally secured to the lower edge of said valve head and the other end being pivotally secured to the wall of said chamber opposite said drain port; and a buoyant float secured to and suspended from said hinge point of said bar within the lower end of said valve housin whereby water rising within said valve housing raises said float, thereby causing said valve to close said port, and seeks its level within said stand pipe.

2. In an anti-flood device for a floor drain, the combination comprising: a substantially dishshaped, circular drain plate having a. coaxial, circular opening therethrough; a cylindrical, vertically disposed valve housing removably and coaxially supported, intermediate its axial ends, within said opening and upon said plate, said housing having a coaxial cylindrical chamber extending therethrough; a stand pipe communieating with said chamber at the upper end of said housing and a screen across the lower end of said chamber; a drain port through the side wall of said chamber above said drain plate and a valve head hingedly supported within said chamber adjacent to said drain port for closing same; hinged linkage extending between and pivotally secured to said valve head and said side wall; and a float suspended from said linkage within the lower end of said chamber, whereby water rising within said housing raises said float, thereby causing said valve head to close said port before said water reaches it and permitting said water to rise in said stand pipe.

3. In an anti-flood device for a floor drain, the combination comprising: a substantially dishshaped, circular drain plate having a circular opening therethrough; a cylindrical, substantially vertical valve housing removably supported within said circular opening, said housing having a coaxial, cylindrical chamber extending therethrough; a, vertical stand pipe communicating with the upper end of said chamber; a drain port through the side Wall of said chamber above said drain plate and a valve head hingedly supported within said chamber for closing said port; a float within the lower end of said housing and linkage connecting said float to said valve head, whereby upward movement of said float causes said valve head to close said drain port.

WILLIAM P. GASPAR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,049,340 Van Der Horst et a1. July 28, 1936 2,062,423 Mingus et a1 Dec. 1, 1936 

